In the absence of a Medical Malpractice Law in the Philippines, it is the hope that this blogspot can serve as a vehicle to sensitize every Filipino to make sure they get proper health care from both doctors and hospitals.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Another Misdiagnosis at St. Luke's Medical Center

I'm so sorry for your tragic loss. Who would think that in this day, and in a hospital at that, that an appendicitis could not be diagnosed even by personnel with some degree of medical training. But then, I personally think that all this "greatness" of St. Luke's is carrying it overboard. There may be or have been a few really great doctors but it's a mistake to lump everyone in that hospital facility with that degree of excellence.

4 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was entered into this clinical trial that was being undertaken by one of the oncologists of that hospital. To make a long story short, when he started to have fevers in the afternoon, the diagnosis went from fevers due to his cancer to tuberculosis to malaria (and he hadn't been anywhere locally or anywhere in countries that may still have malaria) and God knows what else. His number of doctors grew and now included an infectious diseases doctor. Despite this and the many medicines that were given, his condition did not improve. He slowly deteriorated till he died. Shortly before his death, in our frustration we called on his initial cardiologist-internal medicine doctor. He thought my dad had pneumonia. A pulmunologist , who wasn't one of his doctors in his roster of attendings was called in to verify the diagnosis. X-rays, which none of the doctors thought of, were taken. They confirmed the diagnosis. But by then, it was too late and no amount of antibiotics could fight the pneumonia. This confirmed what many have said that cancer victims do not die of cancer but from other things. Most of the time, I hardly saw those very expensive consultants/specialists. But there were a lot of interns and residents who kept writing things on his chart but which apparently wasn't really being read.

1 comment:

Professional-negligence is a special area of law. In many instances, professionals and insurers avail the services of law firms to counter the negligence claims against them. It is very important to hire experienced and expert lawyers when it comes to professional-negligence claims. There may be disputes with regards to professional-negligence against any kind of professional, regardless of the nature of his/her job. These disputes can be related to professionals in accounts, architecture, insurance, finance, consultancy or any other field. Professional-negligence comprises of the acts of negligence due to which the job being done is affected. Professional-negligence can be the disobedience of an official law, mistreatment to a customer or negligence in offering proper services. For more details do visit us at Professional negligence solicitor.